Police Assessment & Development Resources

What is our relationship with the police service?

How do we add value and support you?Whilst there is now a national approach to assessment within the police service, supervised by The College of Policing, there are still a range of activities that need to be implemented and managed locally. These become the responsibility of each force to deliver using their own judgement and resources.

Our knowledge and experience can help where it’s most needed. We can give you support and offer our expertise for all assessment and development related needs, such as recruitment and promotion boards. Our policy is to offer solutions that are cost effective and relevant. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve processes, for example our SIFT™ online assessment solution, which demonstrates how we can work with you to develop solutions that really make a difference.

So if you need to talk to someone about the external recruitment of any uniformed or civilian staff, promotion boards or leadership development, we’re able to provide you with great advice and very credible products and services.

What do your colleagues think?

a&dc have been providing support to the police service for nearly twenty years, our earliest work being the design of assessment centre exercises for Surrey Police in 1996. Since then we’ve worked with numerous other forces delivering assessment related projects, products and consultancy services.

“I have personally worked with a&dc for around two and half years, but other colleagues in the organisation have worked with them over much longer periods. We have always found them professional and easy to work with; the standard of their work is always high, they provide regular updates on progress, respond quickly to queries and are able to articulate technical or complex matters in a way that the customer can fully understand.

a&dc always provide a professional service and I have no hesitation working with a&dc or recommending them. Should you wish to contact me, please do not hesitate to do so.”

Cathy Dodsworth, Head of People Development, Avon & Somerset Constabulary

Contact Tim Jackson: 01483 752900 or tim.jackson@adc.uk.com

Police Assessment & Development Resources

Find out more: tim.jackson@adc.uk.com

Supporting you in external recruitment campaigns

SIFT™ - Screening Individuals for Fit and Talent Background

Between 2011 to 2012, a&dc worked with six forces in the South West Consortium (SWC) to develop a new online pre-application process for entry level recruitment of Police Constables.

At the time, all of the forces in the SWC faced a practical challenge of how to manage the very high volumes of applicants for entry level Police Constable roles in an effective and efficient way. Although existing approaches varied, a telephone-based service was commonly used which was resource intensive and gave candidates a very restricted window of opportunity to apply. It also provided limited information about the potential of candidates before issuing application forms.

The online pre-application process, SIFT (Screening Individuals for Fit and Talent), was designed to address this challenge. The objectives of this project were to develop a new online process that would meet the following objectives:

• Capable of sifting out high volumes of candidates before issuing application forms• Easy to use online administration• Allow forces to expand the size of their talent pool• Assess core competencies and values• Predict potential to perform effectively in the role• Be as fair as possible to all demographic groups, including women, minority ethnic groups and different

age groups

The SIFT Process

SIFT is a completely bespoke, multi-stage process which is delivered on a&dc’s online assessment platform, Apollo™. An overview of the process is shown below:

SIFT is not a complicated series of psychometric tests which require extensive interpretation before you can benefit from its results. It’s simply a logical series of tools designed to assess a large number of individuals interested in applying for Police Constable. The result is a list of eligible applicants who are most likely to suit and perform well in the role.

Relevant

By closely collaborating with six police forces on the design and development, we designed SIFT to be highly relevant for police constable recruitment. It measures competencies derived from the Police Professional Framework and key values set out by the contributing police forces. Its content is built on the combined contribution of police sergeants, constables, student police officers and HR professionals to ensure that it accurately measures those behaviours and values important to the role.

Cost effective

The development cost has already been covered and it’s ready to use whenever you need it. To use the system you need only pay for an access licence and a support fee. Once these fees are paid there are no other charges, regardless of the numbers you need to process. This means you can set a budget for your recruitment campaigns accurately.

SIFT – the first live experience

Wiltshire Police was the first of the forces to use SIFT in January 2013. They were also the first force in the South-West to recruit for nearly four years and therefore expected to be inundated with potential applicants. Whilst they were understandably nervous on ‘go live’ day and received over 200,000 hits on their web site, the online process did its job and they completed the initial stages smoothly and successfully.

Since then nearly a third of forces in England and Wales have now adopted it as their preferred method of external recruitment for Police and Special Constables.

What the client said:

“Historically we have been very limited on the number of applicants, due to the huge demand and popularity of the role of a Police Constable. The tool helped us to increase this number compared to previous years, but still ensure that we had a systematic and detailed process to ensure we had the best calibre candidates at the end of the process.

The system was able to cope with a huge number of hits at the same time and the system is very straight forward and easy to use. We are in the middle of planning the next campaign and based on our previous experience, we are able to open the numbers up to more applicants due to our confidence in the system.”

Louise Nuttall, HR Officer, HR Business Centre Wiltshire Police

Return on Investment

“Introducing SIFT enabled Avon & Somerset Constabulary to increase their pool of applicants

for police constable roles four-fold. Return on Investment modelling conducted by the HR team

at Avon & Somerset Constabulary indicates that, in the first year alone, they achieved

savings of £30,000 compared to if they had used their traditional methods of recruitment. For recruitment in year two and beyond, SIFT is projected to achieve savings of up to £50,000

per year compared to previous recruitment methods. Using SIFT has therefore added value

while also reducing costs.”

Emma Zeeman, Strategic Head of HR, Avon & Somerset Constabulary

SIFT is an evolving solution

Since its inception SIFT has evolved into a wider suite of tools, encompassing other roles beyond Police and Special Constables. The ease of use and the savings experienced by forces using it for external recruitment campaigns has influenced them to think about the wider potential for this solution. Forces have commissioned new assessments that take advantage of the SIFT platform and give them more capability and a higher level of information about staff in role as well as new applicants.

Full details about SIFT are available by contacting Tim Jackson on:

01483 752900 or tim.jackson@adc.uk.com

Selection for promotion

Alongside your external recruitment, promotion boards are the other activity that take up a huge amount of time in the HR and resourcing world. With a number of individuals qualifying each year to move up to the next rung on the career ladder, there’s a need to ensure that their selection is done accurately and fairly.

a&dc provide assessments that help you make better selection decisions. These can be used at any level or grade, either as ready to use products or bespoke solutions.

Leadership development

a&dc were one of only five suppliers recently selected to support leadership development strategies and programmes for the UK. This means that you can approach us directly without tendering to deliver a range of solutions that will improve how you assess and develop individuals’ potential as future leaders. The Framework agreement for the provision of leadership development services 34T issued in March 2015 is available to all police forces.

Civilian role recruitment

As a force you have a wide variety of roles you need to recruit for when required. Selecting the right individuals for each role is always a challenge. There are a number of methods, processes and tools available for you to choose from to support this activity. a&dc have been supporting police forces in this for a long time and can provide advice covering a full range of products and services that will help you get it right. So whether it is call handlers, project managers, support staff or senior managers, we can help.

Supporting you in your selection decisions

a&dc®, SIFTTM and ApolloM are trademarks of The a&dc Group. All rights reserved.

Contact Tim Jackson: 01483 752900 or tim.jackson@adc.uk.com